


Side Effects May Vary: A Love Story

by sinnerforhire



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: First Time, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Sleepwalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-03
Updated: 2010-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-07 00:31:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinnerforhire/pseuds/sinnerforhire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Ambien sparked Jared and Jensen's new-found relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Side Effects May Vary: A Love Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [weesta](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=weesta).



It starts while they're filming the fourth episode. Jensen is under a tremendous workload, doing eight-page scenes with _himself_ and seeing little of Misha and even less of Jared. Jensen's a pretty laid-back guy (though not nearly as laid-back as Jared, but you'd have to be catatonic to be more laid-back than Jared), but he's also driven and perfectionistic, which shows in his work but also in his personal life. When he's too stressed and overworked, he starts to shut down, a piece at a time. First he stops eating, then he stops talking, then he stops sleeping. Jared has seen it twice since Jensen moved in and both times Jensen snapped out of it after about a week and everything was fine.

Jensen waves Jared off when he asks about dinner and disappears before Jared can ask him if he wants to help him walk the dogs later. He hears the faint sound of music coming from Jensen's closed door, something heavy and hard and angry. Jared shrugs and digs some leftover Chinese out of the fridge. Nothing he can really do if Jensen is bound and determined to shut him out.

Jared is just heading up to his bedroom when he hears Jensen cry out. He runs down the hall and shoves Jensen's door open without bothering to knock. "What's wrong?"

The room is dark but not pitch-black and Jensen is sitting up in bed, gazing intently at the bedside table. "They're staring at me," he says, his voice trembling slightly.

"What?"

Jensen sluggishly turns to Jared and points at the table. "The bottles. They're lining up a tactical strike. They want me to turn my back so they can attack my pillow."

For only the fourth time in his life, Jared is absolutely speechless. He looks at the empty water bottles on the table, then back at Jensen, who's looking at him expectantly like Jared should have all the answers. Fuck, Jared doesn't even know what the _question_ is. He's seen Jensen drunk, and stoned, and a little bit of both, and this isn't like any of those times. Which means he's either on something else, or he's so sleep-deprived he's hallucinating. "Did you take something earlier?"

Jensen nods and hands Jared a small manila envelope. Jared holds it up to the light but finds only Jensen's name. He shakes a pill into his hand but it's too small to contain any clues. "You don't know what this is?"

Jensen shrugs. "Can't remember the name. Some sleeping pill; it's supposed to help."

Jared sets the envelope back on the table and gathers up the empty bottles. "If I take these away, will you be able to sleep?"

Jensen nods, but then something on the table catches his eye. "Ooh, the jellyfish is dancing."

Jared raises an eyebrow. Best he can tell, Jensen's looking at the display on the clock radio. "Okay, you have fun with the jellyfish and I'll take these to the kitchen."

Jared hurries to the kitchen and dumps the bottles in the blue recycling bin. When he gets back to Jensen's room, Jensen has shifted his attention to the window. The almost-full moon pokes through the sparse branches of the birch tree in the backyard. "The moon is melting," Jensen announces. "It's going to burn up the ocean."

"That's nice, Jensen," Jared says evenly. "Why don't you lay down and see if there's anything interesting on the back of your eyelids?" He figures there's only about a 50 percent chance Jensen will fall for it, but it's better than nothing.

"Okay," Jensen agrees. Well, that was easy. Jensen turns on his side and pulls the covers up over his shoulder. "Would you...maybe...stay, until I fall asleep? Just to make sure nothing...you know, happens?"

Jared bites his lip to keep from laughing. "Sure," he replies. "Scoot over." Jensen inches sideways and Jared sits down on the empty side of the bed.

 Jensen gazes up at him. "Your feathers are better than Misha's. Yours look softer."

Jared understands what Jensen is getting at; he doesn't know if that means Jensen is more lucid or Jared is just getting used to him. He shakes his head. "It's time to sleep, Jensen. Close your eyes."

Jensen sighs softly and snuggles into his pillow. A few minutes later, his breathing grows deep and even with sleep. Jared grins, shakes his head, and gently pulls the door closed behind him.

The next morning, Jensen enters the kitchen looking better than he has in days. His eyes are clear and wide open, his shoulders are square, and the tension lines in his forehead are gone. Whatever that pill was, it must work.

Still, Jared can't resist the opportunity for a little teasing. He hands Jensen a cup of coffee and grins. "I promise, this one has no ulterior motives."

Jensen looks at him like Jared is the crazy one. "Is that something I should be worried about?"

Jared's face falls. "You don't remember."

"Remember what?"

Jared shakes his head. "Man, you were saying the craziest shit last night. You thought the bottles on your nightstand were plotting against you. And the moon was melting."

Jensen is silent for a long moment, face twisted up in confusion. "But...I thought...that was a dream, it had to be."

"Nope, that was all you." Jared smiles, attempting to lighten up the conversation. "Don't worry about it. You were tired and stressed out, shit happens. As long as you're not seeing the dancing jellyfish now, you're good." He takes the empty coffee cup from Jensen and sets it in the sink. "You look better. Not so tired."

"I feel better," replies Jensen. "I haven't slept like that since...hell, since I got this job." He smirks. "Dancing jellyfish, huh?"

"Next time I'm recording it," Jared tells him with a smile.

*~*~*~*~*

 

Jared awakens to a yelp followed by a loud crash and Jensen swearing. He rushes down the stairs and finds Jensen sitting on the floor rubbing his elbow and Harley snarling at him. "What happened?"

"I, uh...guess I was sleepwalking," replies Jensen. "I think I tripped over him." He reaches out a hand to the clearly perturbed dog. "I'm really sorry, buddy. Can you forgive me?" Harley relaxes and accepts a conciliatory pat from Jensen. "I won't do it again, I promise," he murmurs.

"Has this ever happened before?" asks Jared. "The sleepwalking, I mean."

Jensen shrugs. "I don't think so. At least, no one's ever said anything to me if I did." He stiffly climbs to his feet. "Damn, that hurt," he mutters, gingerly massaging one hip.

"You should get some ice on that," says Jared. "Or you'll be pretty miserable tomorrow."  

Jensen rolls his eyes. "It's just a bruise. I've had plenty worse." He yawns. "I'm going back to sleep." He gives Harley one last pat on the head and heads off to his room.

Jared turns out the light and walks back up the stairs. He isn't sure why, but he has a bad feeling about this whole sleepwalking thing. Jensen getting hurt is one thing, but Jared doesn't know what he would do if Jensen accidentally hurt one of his babies. And what if Jensen tries to get out of the house? Sure, it's warm right now, but rainy nights can get pretty damn cold sometimes--and it's not like those are unusual.

Jared doesn't get back to sleep for a long time. He wonders if Jensen does.

The next morning, Jared stumbles into the kitchen and is shocked to see Jensen already at the counter, stirring his coffee. He'd assumed that he would have to drag Jensen out of bed kicking and screaming this morning. Jensen reaches over to drop his spoon in the sink, which gives Jared a perfect view of the impressive black-and-blue mark just below his elbow. Jared shakes his head. _Stubborn idiot._

"Hey," he says quietly, not wanting to startle Jensen.

Jensen turns around and nods at him. "'Mornin'."

"How'd you sleep?" Jared asks. "Apart from--you know."

"Good. Really good," replies Jensen. "I don't know what happened. Seems like I'd know if I'd done anything like that before."

"I was thinking I might put a chain on your door," says Jared. "So this doesn't happen again."

Jensen glares at him. "No way. I'm not gonna let you lock me up like a prisoner in my own home."

"But it's not safe for you to be wandering around the house in the middle of the night," Jared protests. "Not just for you, but for all of us."

Jensen sighs and crosses his arms. "What d'ya want me to do, Jared?"

"I don't know," answers Jared with a sigh of his own.

Shooting that day is a little rough. Sam and Dean are supposed to be a little awkward around each other, but the whole crew notices when Jared and Jensen start acting the same way. More than a few people stop Jared and ask him, in discreet tones, just what is going on between him and Jensen. Jared assures everyone that it's nothing, but few look like they believe him.

"Maybe we could sort of compromise," says Jared once they get home. "Like, we could put some kind of alarm on your door, and then I'll know if you're sleepwalking."  

Jensen frowns. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, we put bells on your door or something," answers Jared. "But those wouldn't be very loud, I guess. Maybe I could lean a broom or something against your door, and then when you open the door, it would fall over. Maybe the loud noise would even wake _you_ up."

Jensen bites his lip. He's silent for a long moment. "I could live with that," he finally replies.

That night, Jared tries the broom trick. He sleeps soundly through the night and when he gets up, the broom is still leaning against Jensen's door. Jared sits it aside and smiles.

*~*~*~*~*

 

The next few days go pretty well, both on set and off. However, they spend the last couple days of the shoot working on elaborate fight scenes for hours at a time and they're both exhausted and beat to hell at the end (although Jared has to admit it's pretty funny watching Paris Hilton beat the crap out of Jensen). When they get home that night they both collapse in bed without even a word to the other.

They have the next day off, shockingly, and when Jared gets up to walk the dogs he figures it'll be another four hours at least before he sees Jensen. He takes Harley and Sadie on a good, long run, enjoying the last of the warm weather. There's no sign of Jensen when he gets back, but that's not unusual.

What _is_ unusual, however, is the kitchen looking like a hurricane blew through it.

There's shit everywhere, it seems. The counters are covered in spilled juices and empty condiment bottles and scraps and crumbs of every description. He braces himself before he opens the fridge; as he expected, it's an absolute wreck. There are half-eaten apples and carrots and peppers and celery stalks scattered throughout, empty lunchmeat containers are sitting upside-down on the bottom shelf, and there's a nearly-empty jar of peanut butter sitting on the top shelf that hadn't been in the fridge to begin with.

Jared has never seen anything like it. Then he remembers that he went straight to bed and totally forgot to put the broom in front of Jensen's door. "Goddammit," he mutters to himself. He storms out of the kitchen. "Jensen!"

Jensen's door is slightly ajar and Jared shoves through so hard it slams against the wall. "What the he--" He stops when he realizes Jensen isn't in the bed. Then he hears a muffled groan coming from the bathroom.

As he approaches the door, the scent of sickness is so prominent that Jared has to hold his nose shut. He pokes his head through the door. Jensen is slumped against the vanity, clutching his stomach like he's in serious pain. _Which kind of serves him right_, Jared thinks and immediately gives himself a mental kick in the ass for being such a bad friend. "You okay?" he asks, his nasally voice sounding tinny in the small room.

"No," mutters Jensen. "G'way."

Jared steps through the door and takes a good look at Jensen. His face is a ghostly grayish-white, but his eyes are bloodshot and there are spots of red high on his cheekbones. He looks utterly miserable. As he watches, Jensen heaves himself off the floor to throw up again. Jared turns away and winces at the revolting splashing sounds and Jensen's choking coughs. "Christ, what the fuck got into you last night?"

"What're you talking about?" says Jensen, his voice raspy and strained from the abuse.

"I mean you eating everything in the fucking fridge!" Jared replies, his earlier frustration momentarily overriding his concern for his obviously suffering friend.

"What? I didn't--I mean, I don't remember--oh, _fuck_," Jensen groans. "Musta been sleepwalking again."

"But sleep-_eating_? How is that even possible?"

"Dunno," grumbles Jensen. "But can we talk about it later? My head's killing me."

"You're probably dehydrated, genius," says Jared. "I can get some Gatorade for you once I finish cleaning up the disaster that is our kitchen." He can't help but be a little snippy about the latter part; it's going to take ages to get everything sorted out.

"Okay," Jensen murmurs. Jared sees him shift position and decides to get out while the getting's good. Judging by the sounds he hears as he's leaving, that was the right decision.

It takes two trash bags and a lot of elbow grease, but Jared finally gets the kitchen back in some semblance of order. On the upside, the fridge hasn't been this clean since he moved in. He remembers his offer to Jensen and makes a quick grocery run, picking up ginger ale and Jello cups in addition to the Gatorade. Jensen is _so_ going to owe him for this. Big time.

He ends up spending the rest of the day on the couch with Jensen, watching bad reality shows and forcing Jensen to drink even though it's late afternoon until he can keep anything down for very long. Jared makes dinner--noodle soup and toast for Jensen, cheese toast and pasta for himself--and the dogs curl up with them to watch a _Smallville_ marathon, during which Jensen keeps up a hilarious running commentary on his former co-stars' more annoying attributes. Finally, after Jensen nods off for the third time, Jared takes a deep breath and informs Jensen of the decision he made earlier.

 "I think you should sleep with me tonight."

Jensen starts, disturbing Sadie who was sleeping with her head in his lap, and Sadie voices her displeasure. Jensen scratches behind her ears while staring dumbfounded at Jared. "You want me to _what_?"

"Oh, God, not _that_ way!" Jared sputters. "No--I meant--I think you should sleep in my room tonight. For your own safety. I'm a light sleeper, I'll know if you get up."

"In your bed?" asks Jensen.

Jared chuckles. "Yes, in my bed. You're my best friend, I'm not gonna make you sleep on the floor."

Jensen frowns. He opens his mouth, then closes it. He does that two more times before words actually come out. "Yeah, okay."

"You can use the bathroom upstairs if you want," offers Jared.

Jensen wrinkles his nose. "Yeah, uh...thanks."

"See you upstairs," Jared says lightly. He's not sure what Jensen's problem is. They're both aware that a great deal of their fans think they've been sleeping together for years, but if Jensen can't trust his best friend to keep this new development quiet...and besides, it's not like they're _sleeping together_, they're just sleeping in the same bed. Completely platonically. And only because Jensen might accidentally drink drain cleaner or something if they don't. It's not _that_ weird. Is it?

Jensen shows up about ten minutes later, when Jared is already sitting in bed waiting for him. He hesitates in the doorway and Jared can't decipher the strange expression on his face. He decides to lighten the mood. "I already checked under the bed--no monsters here," he says with a smile.   
 It works. Jensen laughs softly and hits the light switch. A second later, the bed dips and the sheet rustles. "Good night, Jen," he whispers.

 "G'night." He feels Jensen shift a bit and then settle. It's comforting, having Jensen beside him and not having to worry about another disastrous nighttime adventure.

He wakes up to darkness and the creaking of the door. He vaults out of bed and grabs Jensen's shoulders to spin him around. "Jensen, hey! Wake up!" He snaps his fingers in front of Jensen's face. "C'mon, wake up!" 

Jensen twitches. "Jared? Wha--"

"You tried to escape," murmurs Jared. "All right, back to bed."

Jensen climbs back under the covers and Jared follows a moment after. Jared waits until Jensen falls asleep to slide in behind and wrap an arm around him, hoping that the physical sensation of being held will prevent Jensen from trying to get up. Jensen snuffles a little and Jared freezes, worried that he's been caught, but Jensen just sighs and snuggles deeper into the pillow. Jared lets out the breath he was holding and forces himself to relax.

When the alarm rings the next morning, before Jared can even move to turn it off, there's a loud grunt and a thump and then blessed silence. He slowly becomes aware of the warm body pressed to his back and the solid weight on his side as his companion leans over him to bat the alarm clock. Soft, slightly dry lips brush his cheek as the person settles back on the bed. "Five more minutes," mumbles a distinctly masculine voice.

And then it hits him with the force of a freight train. _Jensen_. It's his very male, heretofore heterosexual _best friend_ who is currently cuddling him like a favorite teddy bear. And that's--

\--well--

\--pretty damn nice, actually.

He decides to try a little test. He twines his fingers with Jensen's and tugs lightly on his arm. "Come on, we've got work and the dogs can't let themselves out."

"I hate morning people," mutters Jensen, but he sits up. He puts his arms around Jared's shoulders and kisses his neck and god_damn_ if that doesn't make Jared's dick wake up and take notice. "Fuckin' alarms. They ruin everything."

Jared laughs softly. "Necessary evil. Come on, by the time you get downstairs there'll be coffee." He gently pulls out of Jensen's grasp and turns the light on.

Jensen blinks hard, rubs his eyes, and glances around the room like he's never seen it before. "What the--Jesus Christ!" He looks up at Jared. "That--I--please tell me I dreamed kissing you."

Jared shakes his head. "Sorry." He grins. "But I liked it, if that's any consolation."

"God, Jay, I--wait, _what_?" Jensen's eyes are the size of saucers. "You mean--you--" He shakes his head. "Swear to God, I am never taking that fucking pill again."

Jared kneels down on the bed in front of him. "Jensen." He lifts Jensen's chin up so he has to look at him. "You're not dreaming, you're not hallucinating. I never realized it before, but you and I--I mean, shit, we spend practically every minute together, and you make me laugh and you love my dogs and you're just--perfect. For me." He leans forward and presses his lips to Jensen's. Jensen lets out a sort of surprised squeak but quickly warms to the kiss. "Why did you wait so long?" murmurs Jared.

"Because I didn't want to fuck everything up," answers Jensen. "Was afraid I'd lose my best friend." He twists his fingers in Jared's hair and kisses him so hard Jared almost falls off the bed. Jensen grabs him and pulls him back from the edge. "Not wasting any more time," he promises.

"I really hate to do this, but we're gonna be late," Jared points out. "But when we get home tonight, I swear, I'll make it up to you."

Jensen grins, bright as the noonday sun. "You better."


End file.
